Kindness...Paying it Forward

Ben in the library playroom he upgraded with his allowance.



Question: If Ben Johnson makes 25 cents for every chore he does around the house and he donates $20 he's made from all those chores to buy toy trucks and cars for other kids, how many chores did he work?

Answer: Who cares? This kid is a saint.

The Texas-based five year old took a trip to the Fond Du Lac library while visiting his grandma in Wisconsin. He hit up the play-area, naturally, and was pleased to find a mat printed with a town road map-perfect for sending toy cars and trucks speeding down the rug's winding highways. Only one problem: there were no toy cars or trucks to play with. The librarian explained that over time the cars "walked away."

Like the rest of the country, Fond Du Lac residents were hit hard by the recession. The county's unemployment and poverty rates rose significantly from 2008 to 2009. And at least one in eight kids live in poverty as of 2010. So it's likely supplying toys to the local library wasn't top of mind when it came to budgeting.

That's where a not-so-anonymous donor comes in.

"Ben gets an allowance for doing small chores around the house. He gets 25 cents per chore," Ben's mom, Tracy Johnson, told the Fond Du Lac Reporter. "He gets to spend a third, save a third and put a third away for helping others."

About 80 chores earned him enough liquid cash to buy kids in his Grandma's town a permanent collection of miniature cars and trucks to play with then they come to the children's area of the Wisconsin library. Since super-nice Ben lives over a thousand miles away, he probably won't get to play with those toys much himself. Just saying, Santa.

Paying it Forward Jayden style

 



The ring and note that someone slipped into a Salvation Army kettle in Michigan. (Photo Courtesy of the Lamb Family …

When Salvation Army organizers sifted through donations from Midland, Michigan, on Dec. 4, they found something more than the typical handfuls of change and dollar bills: An engagement ring and a handwritten note.

The ring was a Marquise-cut diamond in a gold setting, worth about $2,000. The note attached simply read: "Paying it Forward Jayden Style. God Bless."

 

While a Salvation Army representative told Yahoo! Shine that they routinely find gold coins, jewelry, and other valuables in their red kettles during the holidays—a volunteer in Washington state found a white-gold diamond ring just last week—this expensive donation was different. It was in honor of Jayden Lamb, who died at MidMichigan Medical Center on November 27 after a two-and-a-half-year battle with cancer. He was 8 years old, a third grader at Pine River Elementary School. He would have been 9 on Wednesday, Dec. 12. And all over the country, people are committing random acts of kindness in his memory.

"We were shocked and amazed that someone would do this," Jayden's father and stepmother, Tom and Nicole Lamb, told Yahoo! Shine in a joint statement. "We know that this ring, at one point, meant everything to someone. The fact that they would pay it forward with the ring is so amazing."

After Jayden's death, the Lamb family coped with their grief by doing little things to help others.

"The 'Pay it Forward Jayden Style' movement actually started the day before the showings of his funeral when we were just getting coffee," the Lambs told Yahoo! Shine. "Not knowing the person behind us, we still felt compelled to buy their coffee. It was just a small way for us to say thank you."

After his funeral on December 1, the family went to a local Walmart and asked to pay off someone else's layaway bill. "We told the worker that it had to be for toys and that it had to be in honor of Jayden," they wrote on Facebook. "It is just so amazing to be able to do something for someone else."

And so the challenge began. The Lambs asked people to help others and document their good deeds on their Facebook page, "Keep On Truckin' Team Jayden" which they had launched in August so people could follow Jayden's progress.

"Even though we are still grieving the loss of Jayden, this is helping us cope and heal," his dad and stepmom told Yahoo! Shine. "We feel so blessed that our community and those outside of our community would do something in Jayden's honor. To have his name and his legacy still be carried out even after he has gained his angel wings in Heaven is so amazing to us."

Friends, family, and members of the community responded immediately. "Keep on Truckin' Team Jayden" now has more than 24,000 fans, and is filled with dozens of stories about random acts of kindness and generosity.

One small kindness costs so little of your time or money and you create a chain of kind acts.